Paolo Beni’s Trattato della memoria locale and applied mnemonics

The essay aims at analyzing the manuscript Trattato della Memoria Locale by Paolo Beni (1552‐1625), which tested the classical mnemotechnic rules in the architectural structure of Santa Giustina’s church in Padua. By showing us a logical mental way to represent our memories through the introjections of an artificial external order, the treatise also implicitly suggests a way to analyze a real architectural space and the iconic‐plastic elements that it contains, e.g. the precious and impressive wooden choir of the fifteenth century composed of two series of stalls with illustrated backs: the scenes of Jesus’ life in the upper side are semantically and mnemonically linked to the underlying emblems of Virtues and Vices.